Email marketing has a typical ROI of $42 for every $1 spent.
Data from Statista suggests the global revenue from email marketing will reach $17.9 billion by 2027.
With so many incredible ways to generate revenue for your business, email marketing remains as profitable as ever. 💰✉️
Ready to get that email revenue soaring?
Here are 9 winning strategies to try brought to you by EcoSend.
#1 - Advertise Your Products Or Services
We’ll start with the basics here, and that’s using email marketing as a form of direct promotion.
Whatever it is you sell, offer or do, telling people through email can be extremely effective. The key to making money though is sending the right message, to the right person at the right time, which you can achieve with segmentation.
Keep things snazzy looking and that copy to the point. If you’re not sure how to create an engaging looking email campaign, you can use our free HTML Email Template Builder tool.
From there, making money through email marketing is all about consistency. By no means should you send too many emails, but make sure you are communicating regularly with your subscribers.
Make sure each campaign offers something of interest to encourage higher open and click-through rates.
#2 - Send A Welcome Email That Sells
Welcome emails have a typical open rate of 91%. They are the gold dust of any email marketing strategy, since 9 out of 10 people you send them to will open them.
After all, that user has just agreed to hear from you. They are freshly engaged with your brand and they are at peak interest in all that you do. So make sure you capitalise on this unmissable opportunity by sending a welcome email that does more than just say hello.
From giving product demonstrations to adding a great call-to-action (CTA), grab the attention welcome emails command to generate sales and encourage loyalty to your brand.
🗞️ Pssst: Want more free tips on how to grow your business through email? Sign up for the EcoSend newsletter.
#3 - Re-Engage Customers At Risk Of Churn
Did you know it costs 3x more to acquire new customers, compared to retaining existing ones?
Your customers don’t just go poof like your friendly neighbourhood ghost. Often there are warning signs it’s about to happen. For instance, a lack of recent engagement with your brand, downgrading a subscription or even poor survey feedback.
You can re-engage users at risk of churn through email marketing. Effective re-engagement campaigns will retain that customer and therefore also retain the revenue they bring you at the same time.
The exact approach to take will depend on the issue they are having. But, you could take the opportunity to email them about any promotions. Or, invite them to a personal demo to ensure they are getting the most out of your product if they are dissatisfied.
Like the look of the above email marketing platform? That's EcoSend you're looking at!
👉 Grab your free trial to give it a try yourself!
#4 - Follow Up On Form Or Cart Abandonments
Email marketing software will trigger an alert when someone has abandoned filling out a form or a checkout sequence.
Cart abandonment emails offer a typical open rate of 45%.
Businesses with an average order value (AOV) of between $100 and $500 recover 5% of all abandoned carts on average through email marketing.
Even if you only secure one extra sale per day, that’s still more money in your company’s pocket rather than your competitors. Cart or form abandonments are just the ticket here, seeing as there's pretty much no other way to bring the prospect directly back to the page.
If you have a high number of form or cart abandonments, make sure you know what the issues are so they can be resolved. Abandonment campaigns act as a safety net but aren’t a complete cure for the likes of uncompetitive pricing or even technical glitches on your site.
#5 - Use Affiliate Links In Your Email Copy
Affiliate links are a fantastic way to generate more profit through email marketing.
They can placed in email copy, just as they can in blogs, video descriptions or in social media links.
How it works is that if someone clicks on your affiliate link, you’ll earn a commission from the sale generated for that company. In fact, we even have our own affiliate program here at EcoSend.
Just be aware it’s good practice to state somewhere in the small print that affiliate links are used. But other than that, rock on and cash in. 🕺
Discover: 23 Eco-Friendly Affiliate Marketing Programs 🌳💰
#6 - Surveys And Feedback Emails To Create A Stronger (And More Profitable!) Business Offering
Most companies don’t realise just how valuable their email marketing lists actually are.
Think about it. You have all these contacts who signed up to your mailing list. They did this because they were interested in hearing from you. They want to be involved with your brand - so now it’s time to find out what they really think of you.
Email marketing software such as EcoSend will allow you to send out net promoter score (NPS) surveys. These give a set of questions and ask users to rate their opinion good or bad. In the end, you’ll get a score ranging from between -100 to 100 to see how your company is doing in the eyes of your customers.
How is that going to make my company money you ask?
Use the feedback to keep what’s working for your brand, and fix what’s not. Creating just the right balance from customer feedback is yet another way email marketing can make your business more profitable.
#7 - Indulge In Some Customer Engagement
Customer engagement goes beyond basic customer service. Instead, it offers a concierge-like experience.
So how can customer engagement make your company more money, you ask?
Done right, customer engagement can set your brand apart from the rest, so that your customers continue to spend with you rather than your competitors.
It’s perfectly possible to perform customer engagement through email marketing. For instance, you could check in with a customer to see how they getting on with a recent purchase. Maybe send a greeting on their birthday.
Remember, customer engagement is all about building that human connection which shows you value their business. When your users feel valued, they are more likely to remain loyal to your brand and this will be reflected in the amount they spend with you.
In contrast, none of us like it when companies treat us like just another number. Customer engagement means that will never be the case.
#8 - Turn An Unhappy Customer Into A Lifetime Customer
Sometimes stuff hits the fan.
You might wonder how you can generate more money for your business through engaging with unhappy customers.
It’s simple. Your job is to empathise with your customers to show you understand their issues and you’re there to help them.
FYI, this isn’t something to do only after a customer has contacted you. Instead, the best businesses are proactive in their approach, including reaching out to customers first when they notice something isn’t right.
By providing excellent damage limitation, you have a much better shot of keeping that customer and ultimately keeping the revenue they provide for your business.
So while this tip might not feel as tangible as the rest, it’s essential to ensure your profits don’t dip because of a bad reputation.
Use email marketing to make that happen!
#9 - Show Your Customers How To Get The Most Out Your Products To Boost Engagement
Have you ever cancelled a subscription because you can’t work out how to get it to do what you need?
Don’t underestimate how costly a complicated customer journey can be for a business. As well as working on your website and product itself, email marketing can be used to join the dots.
Use email marketing to address any common customer queries and highlight product demos or features.
The simple fact is the easier it is for people to spend money with you and keep doing so, the more money your business will make. Email marketing is an essential piece of the puzzle here.
Top Tips For Email Marketing Success 💡✉️
🚫 - Don’t add people to your email list unless they have agreed to hear from you. Unsolicited emails will likely be filtered as spam, which will definitely harm your open rates both now and going forward.
👱♂️ - Segment your audiences, so that you send the right message to the right person at the right time, rather than using a ‘send to all’ approach hoping for the best.
🚧 - Never send emails from a no-reply account.
📊 - Monitor your campaigns so that you learn what strategies encourage high open and click-through rates, while also watching out for sudden spikes in unsubscribes.
🧹 - Remember to clean your email lists every 6 months or so to ensure your open rates remain high.
Yet to switch to professional email marketing software? We've put together this handy guide called How To Choose The Best Email Marketing Platform In 2025. You're welcome! 😄
Making Money With Email FAQs
How To Make Money With Email Marketing
To make money from email marketing, you’ll need an email list to generate revenue from. Ideas include selling products or services or affiliate marketing.
The most successful email marketers build qualified lists so that their recipients have agreed to be contacted by them, meaning customers are more likely to open and engage with their emails. We recommend using an email signup form on your website to encourage people to subscribe to your mailing list.
Can You Sell Email Lists For Money?
Unfortunately, no you cannot sell email lists for money as this violates several privacy and anti-spam laws. Even if you don’t get caught, spammy tactics just don’t work in terms of building loyal relationships with your subscribers or getting them to purchase from you. You also risk your domain reputation if you send emails to people without their permission which could mean your emails are automatically filtered as spam.
How Do I Monetise My Email List?
Think about why your subscribers signed up to your list, and make sure the content you send them matches these expectations. Look to provide helpful content that sells in a way that also adds value to the user.
You can also experiment with different email types such as welcome emails, promotional emails and newsletters. Include links to your products or services to let your customers know how they can shop with you.
Businesses can also explore other ways of making money through their emails including affiliate marketing or sponsored features.
How Do I Start Building An Email List?
Every business should have a visible signup form on its website so that users can easily subscribe to your list. Sometimes, it’s worth incentivising users to enter their email by adding a discount or creating a lead magnet.
Users are more likely to give you their email address when they trust your website. So make sure your website is secure and trustworthy to encourage more people to sign up.
Another top tip is to request an email sign up in exchange for a competition entry.
If you have a physical or online store, then you can ask customers if they’d like to sign up for your list when they check out.
What Are Some Common Mistakes To Avoid In Email Marketing?
Many email marketers assume that over-communicating is more likely to result in a sale. In fact, the opposite is true. When you send too many emails your audience is more likely to stop opening and ultimately unsubscribe. So our best tip is to focus on quality rather than quantity if you want to make money through email marketing, especially over the longer term.
You can discover even more free tips over on our post Stop Making These 11 Email Marketing Mistakes.
Make Money And Help The Planet With EcoSend
If you're looking to maximise profit for your business through email marketing, we hope the above tips have given you a masterclass on how it's done.
But if you want even more from us, the EcoSend team can help you there too! Scroll up to grab a free trial of our email platform.
Or if you want to chat with us personally about your email marketing needs, book a demo call with us. You bring the coffee ☕️ — and we'll bring the ideas to help your business grow. 😉
EcoSend is the first email platform which is climate-conscious, meaning we can also help your business reduce its carbon emissions alongside helping you win at email.
If that sounds up your street, we look forward to meeting you and learning how we can help your business succeed!
